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Story of Burkett’s Ride: Automobile Goes on the Warpath and Creates a Sensation in Nebraska Town

This dramatic headline appeared over an article in the Omaha Daily News about a trip made by H. E. Fredrickson into Blair, Nebraska, in his new steam-powered automobile in October of 1900. The story, slightly edited, goes something like this:

Undertaker H. K. Burkett had impressed Fredrickson and his automobile into service to get to Blair on an urgent call, inasmuch as he could not catch a train until much later in the day.

Fredrickson deposited Burkett at the place where he wanted to go and then went downtown to snatch a bite to eat. He stopped his vehicle before the eating place and forgot to hitch it. The sight of the horseless wagon naturally attracted a whole lot of attention, and before long five-sixths of the population was gathered about it.

“By gum, this yere’s a funny wagon,” remarked a prominent citizen as he stored a hunk of tobacco in his face. “Where do you suppose he hitches his mules?”

This interesting topic was being discussed with gusto when the automobile gave vent to a snort of steam. Most of the crowd drew back, but the bolder spirits held their ground. “Gee whiz, Bill, the buggy’s on fire,” yelled one of them. “Go call the fire company.”

He went closer to the vehicle to investigate and accidentally struck the propelling lever. The machine started and the investigator grabbed hold of it to stop it, but it pulled him along.

“Hully gee, help,” yelled he when he had been pulled some thirty feet down the road. During the whole performance up to this time, the crowd had stood rooted to the spot with their eyes sticking out of their heads. The yell awakened a dozen sturdy men, however, and they started off in pursuit of the mobile and its victim.

Half of them grabbed hold of the wheels and tried to pull it to a stop. The other half went to the front and pushed against it. The latter were run over for their pains, inasmuch as the automobile persisted in going ahead.

It was a moment of great excitement, and Fredrickson, attracted by the hubbub, rushed out from the restaurant. He saw his mobile jauntily sailing down the road with the mob of men clinging to it and sized up the situation in a moment. He touched only the high spots in pursuit and meanwhile yelled, “Pull back the lever. Pull back the lever!”

Somebody heard him and yanked back the lever. He, however, pulled it back too far. The mobile halted for just an instant and then backed suddenly, throwing a half a dozen men to the ground and running over them. A score grabbed hold of the machine again, while the rest of the crowd stood in the middle of the road trying to stop it with upraised arms and jumping up and down. The mobile paid no attention to them, and Fredrickson was about ready to bid it adieu when it suddenly ran up against a store and came to a halt. No damage had been done to the machine, but half a dozen Blair citizens believed that they had broken arms or legs until a physician told them they were all right.

A shudder ran through Fredrickson when he was relating his experience upon his arrival in this city. “For a few minutes, I was mighty glad that I had an undertaker with me,” he declared.

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American Pickers at Pioneer Village

The episode of American Pickers that documented their visit to Pioneer Village in Minden, Nebraska, finally aired last night. The entire episode was dedicated to this spectacular museum located just a dozen miles south of I-80, and it was really decent of the show to use their platform to give a boost to this local treasure.

This Ford Model K was featured during the episode. I wrote about this car a few years ago, and, if you want to know more, you can read about it here: Ford Model K – American Car Historian

This car is located in the main building at Pioneer Village, as are many others, but there is so much more. There are, I believe, four other buildings packed full of automotive history. You will find more Ford, GM and MoPar products than you’ve likely seen in one place. You will also find a plethora of Packards, Studebakers and more unusual things like a Marmon Roosevelt and a Sears All-State. Seriously, if you are the type of person that has motor oil coursing through your veins, you need to plan a vacation around a visit to this place.

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The Fords Tell Their Plans for 1939

The above advertisement featuring Henry and Edsel Ford appeared in November of 1938. It concludes by saying, “With new cars, new plants, new equipment, the whole Ford organization is geared to go forward.” The “new cars” referenced were the first Mercury 8, as well as two new Fords that were “better cars and better looking” for 1939. Presiding over the design of these cars was Bob Gregorie, the man Edsel had put in charge of Ford’s first separate design department in 1935. That was a smart move considering the beautiful automobiles produced by Ford Motor Company in the thirties and forties. Gregorie bookended his time at Ford with boat design, and you can see how that experience influenced the streamlined Ford Motor products during his years with the company.

This ’39 Ford Deluxe was designed to “share a family likeness with the Lincoln Zephyr.” It was streamlined, with a deep hood unbroken by hood side louvers, a low radiator grille and teardrop-shaped headlamps set into the fenders. The radiator ornament extended vertically downward to conceal the hood handle.

The steel bodies of the Ford Deluxe were offered in six colors (Black, Jefferson Blue, Dartmouth Green, Cloud Mist Gray, Folkestone Gray, and Coach Maroon Bright) and six body types, including convertible coupe, convertible sedan, Tudor and Fordor sedans, a station wagon and, of course, the coupe:

Two engines were available in ’39, the “thrifty” 60-hp and the 85-hp found in the Deluxe:

The following page is taken from the Ford brochure. Notice the last sentence which specifies that a rumble seat is standard equipment for the Deluxe convertible coupe. This marked the end of an era, for it would be the last time Ford offered a rumble seat.

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The Markings on a Ford Model T Key

The common Model T key with the diamond shaped head was adopted by Ford in 1919. They were initially made of nickel silver until the switch was made to brass in 1926. On one side, they are marked with the Ford script and a maker’s mark like one of the following:

Briggs & Stratton

Clum Mfg.

King Lock

Caskey-Dupree

The original Ford technical drawings also list Culver Stearns as a manufacturer, but I do not recall having seen a key with that particular mark on it. The other side of the key is marked with the series number, and those numbers are 51 to 74 inclusive:

This number was also marked on the ignition switch found on the dash, a system that made stealing cars a simple task for thieves. This bit of advice was found in a 1920 issue of Motordom Magazine:

“On every ignition switch is a small number which corresponds to the number on the handle of your switch key. Organized thieves carry a complete set of these keys. A passing glance at the switch on your car gives them the number of your lock. They walk down the street, select the proper key, walk back, step in the car and drive away. A small file will in a moment or two efface the tell-tale number on the switch.“

If you are interested, the original Ford technical drawings and engineering release notes for these keys can be found in the digital collection on the Henry Ford website:

Drawing, “Ignition Switch Key,” Ford Model T, April 24, 1919 – The Henry Ford

Drawing, “Ignition Switch Key,” Ford Model T, December 19, 1919 – The Henry Ford

Drawing, “Ignition Switch Key,” Ford Model T, January 30, 1926 – The Henry Ford

Engineering Release Notes, Ignition Switch Key, Ford Model T, 1919-1926 – The Henry Ford

1926 Model T
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First Six-Wheeled Bus in America

In 1920, Motordom Magazine reported on the first six-wheeled bus in America, a creation of the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. Resembling a trolley car, the bus was 31 feet long and seated 44 passengers. Power was supplied by a 6-cylinder Wisconsin engine which enabled speeds of only 10-12 mph. Goodyear transported around 20,000 of its Akron employees on a daily basis using 43 trucks and buses, including this one. The largest factory shift of the day, the one that occurred at 3:30, took around 40 minutes to complete.

Happy 2023! Like this bus, let’s hope it’s a . . .

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Classic Tree Hauler

This gorgeous Ford F100 with famous Twin I-beam suspension and Custom Cab package is all decked out for Christmas. It would have made a terrific gift in December of 1965 when it would have only set you back a couple thousand bucks:

You can tell that it is a ’66, not a ’65, based on the grille (the ’65 grille is just two rows of squares):

This truck’s classic good looks and red and white paint job make it the perfect truck for hauling Christmas trees. Wishing you something equally cool to haul your own trees in, as well as a very

Merry Christmas!

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WW1 Soldiers Leaving Fort Dix in a Dodge Brothers Car

This great National Archives photo is captioned, “Soldiers being mustered out at Camp Dix, New Jersey, 1918,” and the sheer joy captured by the photographer is palpable. Notice also the sidecar in the background, not to mention the unbelievably adorable dog.

Soldiers being mustered out at Camp Dix. New Jersey, 1918. Underwood and Underwood., 1917 – 1919
Courtesy National Archives, identifier no. 165-WW-139C(3)

Much of the automobile is obscured by the bodies of the 16 military men piled on top of it, but if you zoom in on the wheels, they do look like Dodge Brothers caps. That would make sense as the Dodges made many notable contributions to the war effort (see “More on the Dodge Brothers . . . .”). This advertisement, placed in 1918, also touches on some of their achievements:

The second paragraph mentions that the Dodge Brothers organization refrained from making any mention of its activities while the war was in progress. This tone was surely set by the Dodge brothers themselves, Horace and John, who, in addition to being brilliant machinists and manufacturers, were famously tight-lipped. One 1916 Fort Worth Star-Telegram story, “Dodge Brothers Hide Personality Behind Their Car,” reported that getting information from the Dodges was a hopeless task:

Horace positively will not talk. He refers everything to John. And John says, “The public is not interested in us but in what we make. Write about the car if you want to write about something.”

Imagine a time when people just kept their yaps shut.

1917 Dodge Brothers
1916 Dodge Brothers
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First Car Through the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel

The Detroit-Windsor Tunnel is a mile-long tunnel that connects Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario. According to the tunnel’s official website, it is the only existing subaqueous international automobile border crossing in the world and is made up of 80,000 cubic yards of concrete and 750 tons of reinforced steel. It also contains 574 lights so that drivers can safely make their way through this tube located 75 feet below the surface of the Detroit River. The tunnel was officially dedicated on November 1, 1930. Many current sources report that a 1929 Studebaker was the first car through the tunnel (here and here, for example). This is surprising, because contemporary newspaper reports were pretty emphatic that the first car through the tunnel was not a Studebaker, but a Graham:

The above photo was published in the El Paso Times, and it depicts the Graham at the international boundary with the radiator in the United States and the remainder of the car in Canada. It is easily identifiable as a Graham because of the large ventilation doors on the side of the hood that could be opened and closed separately by pressing small chromium buttons.

The Graham brothers, who had been in the truck business before selling out to Dodge Brothers, purchased the Paige-Detroit Motor Car Company in 1927. This means the Graham Eight used to christen the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel must have been brand-new, because it was called a Graham-Paige from 1928 through the first series of 1930. This shiny, new Graham would have been powered by a 100-hp L-Head Eight with 3-1/4 x 4-1/2 bore/stroke and displacement of 298.6 cubic inches. The distinctive Graham emblem is a stylized depiction of the three Graham brothers, Joseph, Robert and Ray, as knights:

The reports from 1930 do not mention why the Graham was chosen to make that first trip under the Detroit River, but perhaps it had something to do with the automobile’s “dignity and class”:

1930 Graham taillight
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Ralph De Palma’s Most Thrilling Moment on the Track, Circa 1912

In 1912, the New York Herald asked well-known racers of the day what they would describe as their “most thrilling moment on the track,” and the answers given really take you back to that time and place. One of the racers who gave a response to the newspaper was Ralph De Palma, the winner of the 1915 Indianapolis 500. Here is his story:

Ralph De Palma

De Palma racing a Mercedes in the 1914 Vanderbilt Cup race